Motor / ESC recommendations

[dmelczer 100]

Hello all!  I've been building Tamiya RC cars for a while, and have a collection of 7 cars at the moment (1 Grashopper, 2 Falcons, 1 Frog, 1 TT02-B Plasma Edge, 2 TT02-R touring car).  Although I've been building for a while, I've never delved into some of the deeper areas of this hobby.  I'm looking to build a new touring car based on a TA08 chassis, just to get a new experience (the belt driven 4WD shoudl be somewhat different from my previous RWD and shaft-driven 4WD builds).  I have run some brushless motors (I put DR10 electronics into a Falcon...that thing is insanely fast on 3s LiPo...mostly brushed though), all cars have ESCs in them (I've retrofit everything...no more mechanical SCs).  With the new car, I'm definitely going to run brushless.  With electronics in the past, I've had some really great success with Reedy motors and ESCs and Team Associated TX/RX units.  So, here is my question...currently I'm looking at a few possible ESC/motor combinations, some brands of which I have no experience with and I was looking for some recommendations.

So, should I go with a Reedy 540-FT 13.5T motor with a Reedy Blackbox 600Z-G2 ESC?  Or perhaps a Hobbywing WP-10BL50 ESC with a 3300KV 540 motor?  Maybe 1 10BL120 ESC and Supersonic 13.5T motor?  Something else?

I'm looking to have peak speed around 25-30MPH, although I do know a lot of that has to do with the gearing as well.

Are the Hobbywing ESCs and motors reliable?  Is there another brand that perhaps I should consider?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[ThunderDragonCy 7873]

The hobbywing ESC are very good. I have 10BL120 in a couple of buggies and I have a Justock XR10 60amp in my racecar. That said, Reedy has an excellent reputation. The thing to remember with something like a TA08B is that you have way more gearing options than a cheaper car, so motor power isn't necessarily what is needed. My local clubs touring car class rules are 17.5 brushless with "Blinky" ESC i.e. zero timing or boost allowed on the esc. That's why I have the Justock ESC because the timing is fixed at zero for racing. BUT you are allowed to advance the motors. So, because the cars are light and brushless motors have lots of torque, my 17.5 race setup with 42 deg advance timing on the motor (adjusted by rotating the end bell) and gearing around 4.1-4.5 FDR depending on track is VERY fast. Sometimes faster than I would like! 13.5 will be seriously quick with the right gearing (you will want around 5.0 FDR for 13.5). Might be worth seeing what the touring car class at your local club uses. If you get something compliant you can race if you want to have a go. 

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

Pretty  much what ThunderDragonCy said. My club rund 21.5T and 13.5T blinky classes and while the 13.5T are quite a bit faster in a straight line, their lap times aren't that much faster. In saying that if you're going to a reasonably big space then you may as well go faster.

Any of the current generation motors should work well. You could save a bit and buy a cheaper older model motor which will be slower than a newer one, but that probably won't be that noticable and if you're not racing it won't matter. 

I'm not familar with those ESC's but HW and Reedy both have good reputations so either should be fine. One thing though is getting one that is programmable with turbo and boost. It can be fun to play around with settings and can give you the option of adding a heap of speed if you feel like it, just by programming the ESC. Blinky mode is with no ESC timing and many race classes require it. The cars are still fast because they are geared so aggressively,  but for running around home you don't have those constraints. I would get a programmable rather than fixed timing/blinky only ESC

 

[dmelczer 100]

Thank you both for the suggestions.  No, I'm certainly not going to be racing.  I just have fun with the "thrill of the build".  I'm just always looking for something different to expand my knowledge.  I think the HobbyWing one is programmable.  I'll look further into it.

 

[ThunderDragonCy 7873]

1 hour ago, dmelczer said:

Thank you both for the suggestions.  No, I'm certainly not going to be racing.  I just have fun with the "thrill of the build".  I'm just always looking for something different to expand my knowledge.  I think the HobbyWing one is programmable.  I'll look further into it.

 

The 10bl120 is programmable. Great esc. 

[dmelczer 100]

I am definitely leaning toward the Hobbywing unit at this point, but I do have one additional question...what type of battery interface does this ESC use?  I never see the interface shown in photos or mentioned in the description.  Is it Deans or do I have to purchase separately and connect my own?

 

Thanks again!

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

10 minutes ago, dmelczer said:

I am definitely leaning toward the Hobbywing unit at this point, but I do have one additional question...what type of battery interface does this ESC use?  I never see the interface shown in photos or mentioned in the description.  Is it Deans or do I have to purchase separately and connect my own?

 

Thanks again!

I'm pretty sure it will come with the wires separately, so you need to solder on the motor and battery wires. Obviously then you can choose your own. I use bullets that plug straight into the battery on most of my cars since most of my batteries have the holes for bullets rather than XT60 or deans

[dmelczer 100]

Makes sense.  Most of my Lipos are XT60, so I'll probably purchase a few of those with leads and then solder to the ESC.

Since this ESC supports 120A, do I have to purchase 10AWG to connect to the motor, or since it is a 13.5T motor I'll be putting in (that draws 49A) can I go with 12AWG?

 

Thanks for the info!

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

On 3/12/2022 at 6:43 AM, dmelczer said:

Makes sense.  Most of my Lipos are XT60, so I'll probably purchase a few of those with leads and then solder to the ESC.

Since this ESC supports 120A, do I have to purchase 10AWG to connect to the motor, or since it is a 13.5T motor I'll be putting in (that draws 49A) can I go with 12AWG?

 

Thanks for the info!

12awg will be plenty. All the ESC I have bought come with cable so just use what it comes with. In saying that I don't have one of these so don't know if it comes with it or not.

 

[dmelczer 100]

Thank you for the advice!  It is certainly appreciated!

[Turbotom 163]

If you are racing with a brushless motor, I always use the hobbywing xr10pro 160amp. There are so many options to use with it.

[dmelczer 100]

I actually decided to go with the Hobbywing 10BL120 with the Surpass Rocket V4S 13.5T motor.  I used the 12AWG wire that came with the unit and purchased an XT60 connector to connect to my 2S and 3S batteries.  

I'm still waiting for my custom rims to arrive (should be in the next few days) so I can glue the tires and take it out for a spin.  The weather is starting to get warmer here in NJ so I'm getting the itch...